Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are characterized by their severe resource constraints (e.g. energy, bandwidth, processing power, and memory) which have a considerable impact on the application performance and the lifetime of the network. For example, many WSN applications require very long lifetime to avoid frequent re-charging or battery replacement of the nodes. The main difficulty in designing efficient resource constrained ad-hoc wireless networks, in general, and WSNs in particular is scalability. When using straightforward approaches (such as those involving globally shared information), as the scale of the network grows the cost of routing, maintenance, and processing grows with it exponentially. In order to reduce processing, memory, and communication bandwidth overhead requirements within the network there is a need for a flexible system that is scalable and is capable of dynamically allocating resources for performance optimization.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention. It will further be appreciated that certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. It will also be understood that the terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions by persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above except where different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.